February 11, 1979Ayatollah Khomeini and his
followers take power after a revolution.

February 26,
1979Khomeini
announces that the Family Protection Law (1967) is abrogated.

March 3,
1979Khomeini
announces that women cannot be judges.

March 6,
1979Khomeini
announces that women are to wear hejab in the workplace. (Hejab is
Islamic modest dress which in Iranian context, at least in the early period of
the revolution, refers to a scarf and long dress that covers women’s whole
body).

March
8, 1979A
celebration planned by groups for International Women’s Day is turned into a
protest against Khomeirfs announcement about the veiling of women and banning of
the Family Protection Law. Thousands of women gather in the streets of Tehran asking prime minister Bazargan to hear their plea. This is the time when Islamic forces, calling themselves Hezbollah (Party of God), attack demonstrations.

March 29,
1979Khomeini announces that beaches and sports events are to be sex-segregated.

April
1979In a
national referendum, 98% of the people vote yet for “Islamic Republic” The
question posed in the referendum Republic: Yes or No”.

August
1979Khomeini selects members of the Council of Guardians, a clerical organization with
the power to overrule presidential, and Majles (Parliament) candidates. All
leftist opposition groups are crushed by the Islamic forces. Ayandegan (The
Future) an Independent leftist newspaper, is banned. The National Democratic
Front (a nationalist political party) organizes a demonstration against the
banning of the newspaper. The Mujarhedin and Fadaiyan (an Islamic
leftist group and a major leftist group, respectively) are forced to go
underground.

October
1979A proposal
for the replacement of the Family Protection Courts with the Special Civil
Courts is presented by the Minister of Justice to the Council of Guardians. The
proposal is approved. The government then announces that many branches of the
Special Civil Courts would be set up around the country. By 1981, there are 80
branches. These courts deal with family matters such as divorce and child
custody.

December
1979The
constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran is drafted. It appoints Khomeini to
the highest-ranking Sh’i jurist with total control over judiciary, executive and
legislative branches (velayt-e faqqih). Family matters become the
central focus of laws on women. Women are highly praised for their roles as
“mothers”. Article 10 of the Constitution states: “Since the family is the most
basic unit of Islamic society, all rules and regulations regarding family should
serve the purpose of preservation of family and its relations based on Islamic
rights and morals.”

1980-1983During
this time opposition groups are eliminated. According to an Amnesty
international report, 6,027 persons were executed in Iran, between 1979 and
1983.

June
1980Khomeini
announces the Enqelab-e Edari (administrative revolution), which requires
women to wear hejab in all governmental offices. Later, Banisadr also
asks women to comply in order to fight “the Western consumer culture”.
Universities are shut down in preparation for an “Islamic Cultural Revolution”.
Four women are elected to the First Majles (1980-1984): Maryam Behruzi, from
Tehran. Education: sixth grade. Gohar ol-Shareh Dastgheib, from Tehran.
Education: M.A. A’zam Taleqani, from Tehran. Education: B.A. A’tefeh Rajai, from
Tehran. Education: sixth grade.

June
1980These
female Majles representatives are elected for ideological reasons. Even though
they lack higher education, they are proficient in the Qur’an and religious
matters.

September
1980The War
against Iraq begins and lasts for eight years.A’zam Taleqani starts a
women’s newspaper, Payam-e Hajar (The Message of Hajar), under direct government order. It justifies the Islamic family laws (polygamy and women’s lack of rights with regard to custody of their children and marriage
contracts) by referring to the highly praised status of women as mothers in the
Islamic Republic of Iran.

1980-1981The
journal Zan-e Ruz (Today’s Woman), which was taken over by the Islamic
Republican Party during the revolution, changes its content to Islamic codes of
behavior for women. Zan-e Ruz was founded in 1964, during the reign of
Mohammad Reza Shah, and it was largely apolitical. Editors: Shahla Ansari
(1978-1982) Firuzeh Gol-Mohammadi (1982-1984) Shahla Sherkat (1984-June 1991)
[she founds the journal Zanan (Women) in February Gerami-Zadegan
(1991-1996) Mehri Savizi (1996-present)

1981President
Banisadr’s cabinet proposes a bill that amends the Special Civil Courts Act of
1979 passed by the Council of Guardians. ‘In cases where there is no guidance on
family matters either from the Majles or the council, the Special Civil Courts
will base their judgements in relation to family disputes on Khomeini’s fatwas
(religious injunction).’ This amendment gives the clergy total power in
interpreting the sharia (Islamic law).

June
1981The Islamic Republican Party (followers of Khomeini) dismisses Banisadr in
the parliament accusing him of planning a military coup. A Tehran demonstration
in his support is crushed and the Islamic Republic of Iran practically becomes a
theocracy. The Women’s Society of Islamic Revolution (WSIR) is founded by
Fereshteh Hashemi, Shahin Tabatabai and Zahra Rahnavard. All founders hold
Ph.D.s from American universities. They create the organization to raise women’s
consciousness regarding their new roles as “authentic” and “true” Muslim women
in the new Islamic society of Iran. They do not declare themselves
feminists.

March 1982A bill proposed to the Majles on
the right of mothers to have custody of minor children (boys at age 2 and girls
at age 7) after divorce is rejected on the grounds that it does not comply with
the sharia. (Below this age, a mother is permitted custody of the children.
After reaching this age, custody is given to the father.)

September
1982Universities
reopen.Elementary,
junior high and high schools become sex-segregated.

1983The Majles
passes the “Islamic Punishment Law” stating that 74 lashes are required for any
woman who fails to adhere to strict hejab. For the first time after the
revolution, the Oom seminary, a prominent and legendary religious training
center, admits over 400 women with secondary school education.

April
1983Seminars are held to ensure a unified interpretation of
civil laws.

Zan-e Ruz discusses the necessity of having
multiple interpretations of sharia. In the same year, legislation is passed to
grant special loans to poor men and women who want to get married. This fund,
organized by Bonyad-e Shahid (the Martyrs’ Foundation, which deals with
matters related to veterans of Iran-Iraq war) in the midst of the Iran-Iraq war,
aims at easing the costs of marriages.

Siqeh (temporary marriage) becomes legal, according to Khomeini’s fatwas. (According to
current Iranian law, marriage can be either permanent or temporary. In permanent
marriage, no duration is specified. According to article 1075 of the civil code,
temporary marriage, siqeh, can last for a specified period of time. In siqeh, the wife has to leave the husband’s house as soon as the period of their siqeh is over, or if the husband waives his right to the remaining
portion of the specified period. In siqeh, the wife is not entitled to
any financial support, or inheritance, from the husband.)

August
1983A bill is
drafted by the Majles Committee on Health and Welfare concerning the status of
“unprotected women” (widows, etc.). The bill puts pressure on the state to help
widowed women be self-sufficient. It is not enacted until
1987.

Summer 1984A special patrol is organized
to deal with violations of hejab in the streets. These violations include
showing of women’s hair, wearing lipstick, etc.

1985The
Women’s Religious Studies Center, also called the Society of A]-Zahra, is opened in Qom. This is the first time the holy city of Qom allows a
religious center for women. On the whole, in all institutions of higher
education, many subjects remain closed to women. These majors include
mining-engineering, management, and other professions considered inappropriate
for women.

February 1985The Majles passes a law giving
the Special Courts total power over rights of custody. Now, if they rule that
the father is incapable of having custody, the mother can have full custody of
the children. The laws regarding family matters are gradually shifting back to
the Family Protection Law of 1967.

April
1985Khomeini
gives a speech about the necessity of women’s participation in the Iran-Iraq
War. The Society of AI-Zahra in Oom calls for a mass mobilization of
women in support of his call. Even though women never participate in any combat,
this gesture has symbolic significance.

1986The Women’s
Committee of the Islamic Republic of Iran is founded by Zahra Mostafavi
(Khomeini’s daughter). In 1969 its bylaws are passed by the government.

April
1986The
Revolutionary Guards Corps, an Islamic military organization of volunteers,
announces its program of military training for women. It begins by admitting 500
volunteer women.

1987The bill drafted in August 1983
concerning the status of “unprotected women” is enacted. The government improves
the pension allowance of the-widows of state employees who were killed in the
Iran-Iraq War, to equal the husband’s last paid salary.

October
1987The
Women’s Social and Cultural Council is set up in order to make policy
recommendations regarding women.

1988Khomeini
announces the end of the eight-year war with Iraq. Three women are elected to
the Third Majles (1988-1992): Gohar ol-Sharieh Dastgheib, from Tehran.
Education: M.A. Marzieh Hadidchi (Dabagh), from Tehran. Education: sixth grade.
A’tefeh Rajai, from Tehran. Education: sixth grade.

June 4,
1989Khomeini
dies.

July
1989A bill is
introduced in the Majles to transfer the power of divorce from the husband to
the Special Civil Court (as stated in the Family Protection Law). Men’s absolute
right to divorce is left intact, but divorce registration now requires the
permission of the Special Civil Court. Men are required by law to provide a
sound argument to the court, which the court can reject if it does not comply
with sharia. The result is to give women greater power over marriage contracts.

1990Four years after its founding, the Women’s Committee of
the Islamic Republic of Iran publishes its first magazine, Neda (The Calling), which deals with women’s legal rights in an Islamic framework. Its founding editor (who remains in the post to date) is Khomeini’s granddaughter,
Fereshteh A’rabi. Editorial Board: Ashraf Borujerd, Sadiqeh Moqaddasi and A’zam
Noun.

April
1994The Majles
passes a law allowing women to become legal consultants in the Special Family
Courts and Administrative Justice Courts. Women still cannot be
judges.

June
1994Shahla
Habib and Ma’sumeh Ebtekar are appointed organizers of the Iranian delegation to
the United Nation’s Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. They conduct
the first meeting of all-women NGOs in Tehran in preparation. Total of 15
Iranian women’s NGOs are recognized by the Beijing Conference coordinators.
(Some of these were formed only for the purposes of attending the conference and
were soon abolished.)

November
1995305 women
announce their candidacy for the Mailes. 179 of these women are approved by the
Council of Guardians to run in the election. The Judiciary branch announces the
employment of 100 female legal consultants.

March
1996The Fifth
Majles elections take place. 179 women and 2,751 men compete for 290 seats.
Fa’ezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani (the daughter of President Rafsanjani) gains the
second highest number of votes.

October
1996The first
public sports event with women athletes takes place.

February
1997The first
women’s sports magazine is published. Editor: Seyyed Mohammed Safizadeh. The
international human rights organization Human Rights Watch gives an award to
lawyer Shirin Ebadi for her efforts on behalf of women and children’s rights in
Iran. She is the founder of the Iranian non-profit Children’s Rights Committee.

May
1997Mohammad
Khatami is elected president. Women vote for Khatami in great
numbers.

June 1997A bill is passed concerning
women’s part-time work. Due to their domestic duties, women can now work 6 hours
and get paid for 8 hours.

October
1997Khatami
selects Zahra Shoja’i as his consultant on women’s issues. The hardliner
Ayatollah Mazaheri objects to Iran joining the United Nations’ Convention on
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women because it does not
comply with sharia.

November
1997For the
first time since the revolution, women in great numbers enter Azadi stadium to
watch and encourage the Iranian soccer team in a game with the Australian team.
They break down the gates and force their entry into the stadium despite the
security guards’ presence.

1998A number of opposition figures
in Iran are mysteriously killed. The first among them are Parvaneh Foruhar and
her husband Dariush Foruhar, members of the National Party of Iran. A
fundamentalist militia group called Fadaiyan-e Navvab claims full
responsibility for the killings. Some from the hardline Islamic faction of the
regime announce that these dissident writers killed were “enemies of Islam.”
Tension escalates between various factions of the regime. Independent newspapers
play a major role in pressuring government officials to find and punish the
murderers.

February
1998A bill
concerning women’s work hours is passed, in which, in recognition of their
responsibilities to the family, 1) women working full time may, with the
permission of their boss, work three-quarter time and have it considered
full-time; and 2) women working part-time are protected by law from losing
maternity and other benefits.

In Civil Code 1082, Mehrieh, the sum paid by the groom to the bride upon divorce or death of
the husband, is amended so that the payment reflects inflation and its real
value at the time of marriage. Civil Code 1173 passes in Majles, requiring a
female legal consultant to be present in the court during child custody cases.

April
1998Two
provocative amendments are proposed to the Majles:1) Any instrumental use of
women’s pictures that denies them “their dignity granted by Islam” is strictly
forbidden in publications, movies and other media. An aim of this bill is to
restrict new press freedoms created after the election of Khatami. It passes.
2) The bill proposing sex-segregation of hospitals and health clinics is
reintroduced. Again it does not pass; the Council of Guardians rules it out
because it is too expensive to enforce.

Saïd Mohsen Saïdzadeh, a
well-regarded cleric and a graduate of Qom seminary, presents an alternate
interpretation of sharia, criticizing the proposed amendments on the grounds
that they are in fact against Islamic law. He is imprisoned two months later.

July
1998Meymanat
Chubak, a legal consultant, is appointed by the head of the legislative branch,
becoming the first woman to hold such a high position in the courts.

1999After 21
years, Iran holds its first municipal elections, putting an estimated 190,000
officials into office.

July
1999After the
newspaper Salam is closed down by the state for its provocative
statements regarding the killing of dissidents, a riot breaks out at the
University of Tehran. The state-controlled media reports that, one, student is
killed and many, are wounded. The, student coalitions, however, dispute the
given figures.

February
2000Zanan reports that 57.2%
of those admitted to the universities are women.

February 18,
2000Elections
are held for the Sixth Majles, with 5,723 candidates participating. Iranians
come to the polls in unprecedented numbers: 84% of the eligible population vote.
Of these candidates, 417 are women. Jamileh Kadivar, a reformist woman
candidate, comes second in the list of elected candidates in Tehran. Women
elected to the Sixth Majles and their rankings in the election results, as of
the count on this date: Tehran: Soheila Jelodarzadeh (#9), Vahideh Alai Taleqani
(#14), Elaheh Kulayi (#18), Fatemeh Haqiqatju (#19), Fatemeh Rakei (#24).
Shiraz: Tahereh Rezazadeh Isfahan: Akram Mosavvari-Nejad Mashhad: Fatemeh
Khatami.

March 1, 2000More than 600 female medical
students of the all female University of Qom protest in front of the Ministry of
Health in Tehran. The protesting students claim that they are deprived of proper
medical training because there are not enough female doctors to teach them. The
hardliners, however, claim that the University of Qom medical school for women
has served as an ideal example of an Islamic institution, since it trains female
doctors and all of their patients are women.

March 8,
2000Following
the election of several liberal women to the Majles, there is debate about
female representatives’ proper hejab. Should women representatives wear chador (a long cloth covering the whole female body except the face), or
is proper Islamic dress” (a scarf and a long dress) enough?

The first gathering of
women since the revolution to celebrate International Women’s Day takes place in
Tehran.

April 23,
2000In an
attempt to crush the reformists, the judicial branch of the government shuts
down at least 12 reformist publications. These publications are: Asr-e
Azadegan, Aban, Azad, Arya, Aftab-e Emruz, Arzesh, Iran-e Farda, Bamdad-e Nu,
Payam-e Azadf, Payarn-e Hajar, Fatheh, and Gozaresh-e Ruz. (Many of these
newspapers and journals were used as the sources for this
chronology.)

May 27,
2000Six more
news publications are closed, bringing the total to 18. The Sixth Mailes opens
with 70% reformists, 25% conservatives and 5% independent candidates having been
elected. This result comes after many recounts of the vote by the Council of
Guardians. Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was first ranked as 30th on the list of
candidates elected from Tehran, and was one of only two conservative candidates
elected from that city, is moved up to the 20th place on the list. Shortly after
student demonstrations, Rafsanjani resigns, leaving the Majles with only one
conservative representative from Tehran.

References

Paidar, Parvin. Women and
the Political Process in Twentieth-century Iran. UK Cambridge University Press,
1995.